Why? Who knows? But when he was checking for blood or hair at the site, he looked up and saw the buck about 150 or so yards away watching him. Hankins didn’t take a second shot after missing once, opting to do so out of prudence rather than “just sling lead in the air with that kind of buck.”

After discussing it that evening with the lodge’s head guide, and with no hunters in camp, Hankins figured he’d go back the next morning to the same stand. That decision paid off when his 7mm-08 found the mark on the buck about two feet from where he’d missed the day before!

The giant deer green scored 179 5/8, with some kickers on its right side and main beams of 29-plus inches. Hankins said it was aged at 5 1/2 years old.